1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of tools, and more particularly to a multiple socket device as well as a wrench which includes the multiple socket device. A significant aspect of the present invention involves having four different conventional socket sizes located about a single axis.
2. Prior Art Statement
While the art of developing socket wrenches and related tools is well established, there is, nonetheless, a lack of significant improvement over the basic socket wrench design. Barbell type wrenches have been developed which have a multiplicity of wrench sizes at each end, but these are located about many different axis and require torquing at awkward wrench handle angles. Other types of multiple socket devices and wrenches known in the art are characterized by the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,571,570 to S. Hagar describes a telescoping wrench made of two tubes, one located within the other to achieve multiple sizes at each end, the choice of size being determined by selectively locating a holding pin so as to telescope out or in the ends of an inner tube with respect to the ends of an outer tube, each end of each such tube having a different size socket.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,227 to M. E. Cushman illustrates another type of telescoping wrench involving three tubes each having a different socket size, located within one another.
The inner two tubes are mounted so as to slide within the outer tube to selectively position the desired size. However, the two inner components are slit, shim type pieces which could slip and which require mechanical support from the outer tube to function. Also, Cushman does not teach the use of double ended, double sized inner members.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,610 to C. O. Russman describes a telescopic multiple socket wrench having four different sizes, two each on an inner and on an outer tube, the inner tube having a plurality of outside diameters and being mounted within the outer tube so as to extend (telescope) one end or the other beyond the end of the outer tube.
The present invention multiple socket device varies significantly from all three of the foregoing prior art devices as follows:
(1) The present invention multiple socket device has an inner tube which has no smooth or cylindrical surfaces, thereby allowing for much tighter, efficient fit of the inner tube within the outer tube;
(2) The present invention multiple socket device is the only device that can have four consecutive sizes of sockets in a single axis. While the published art teaches using four different sizes, they cannot be consecutive conventional sizes due to their clearance and strength requirements;
(3) The present invention multiple socket device has a total length which may be equal to or less than four times the height of a conventional bolt head or nut, permitting usage in tighter, closed areas. The prior art devices telescope, and, as shown in their drawings, are inherently relatively lengthy and cannot be used in tight corners or under small clearances;
(4) The present invention multiple socket device does not require holding pin holes, sliding button slits, or full length slits to create "shim" action or thick guides, one or more of which are required in all of the cited prior art;
(5) The present invention multiple socket device is designed such that full mechanically sound thicknesses may be used yet the outer member can accommodate a largest conventional socket size at its upper portion, a second largest size at its lower portion, and the inner member can accommodate a third largest conventional socket size at its upper portion and a fourth largest (smallest) size at its lower portion, all of these first, second, third and fourth largest sizes being sequential conventional sizes. This cannot be achieved with any of the prior art devices taught. For example, in Hagar and in Russman, the cylindrical outer walls of their inner tubes must have smaller diameters because they fit smooth cylindrical inner tubes into hexagonal outer tubes. For reasonably functional wall thicknesses, smaller inner tube inside diameters are needed, resulting in smaller socket sizes, i.e conventional sizes cannot be consecutive and some inbetween sizes are necessarily omitted.
Thus, for these reasons, the prior art illustrates the need for a more perfect and efficient multiple socket device. The prior art patents fail overwhelmingly in comparison to the present invention device and support the unobviousness of the present invention.